Patrols are a specialized type ofWikiProject used in the English Wikipedia to watch over a class of pages and take any appropriate actions. Most patrol actions are performed by individualWikipedians, but some are performed bybots—computer programs or preprogrammed scripts that make automated edits without a need for real-time human decision-making.
There is a great need for patrols on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is big. In fact, Wikipedia ishuge. To help editors maintain reasonable quality on an encyclopedia this size, that almost anyone can edit, a number ofWikipedia community members have set up long-standing patrols. These patrols focus on various edits and feeds, and their members watch these feeds in the background, or from time to time, or really, whenever they like. Many of the well-known patrols have hundreds of users, and are directly responsible as a first line againstvandalism, or other potential problems that may happen.
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